BELLEVILLE, Ill.—A St. Clair County circuit judge on Dec. 27 voided Gov. Bruce Rauner’s executive order to halt collection of
union fees from state workers who aren’t members was illegal. Judge Chris Kolker ruled that the order, which prevented the collection of “fair-share fees” from nonmembers represented by unions, violated state law, collective bargaining agreements, and the Illinois Constitution. He said Rauner was trying “to rewrite 26 collective bargaining agreements. This is expressly prohibited by state law.” A Rauner spokesperson told the Belleville News-Democratthat the governor had issued the order because he “supports the freedom for all government workers to choose what political speech to support and whether or not to take money out of their paychecks to pay dues to a union.” “Public service workers know that Bruce Rauner is fiercely hostile to working people, wants to take away their freedom to join together in strong unions, and is determined to drive down their wages,” responded Anders Lindall, spokesperson for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which filed the suit contesting the order along with the state AFL-CIO. The case may become moot if the Supreme Court prohibits fair-share fees this year.
Read more: http://www.bnd.com/news/local/
